Abraham was  man of faith. God spoke and he believed. His faith so moved God that the Bible says,  'Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness' (Gen 15:6)

To Abraham, nothing was too big or too complex for him to trust God for. He believed God's promise to make him a father of many nations at a time when his wife was not even pregnant. He believed when God told him to leave his comfort zone for a place flowing with milk and honey. 

Do we indeed have men with the faith of Abraham today?  Our Lord Jesus Himself must have thought about this when He asked the question, 'When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on earth?' (Luke 18:8)

Abraham was one of the few people God referred to as His friend. 'The Lord says, "People of Israel, you are my servants. Family of Jacob, I have chosen you. You are the children of my friend Abraham' (Isaiah 41:8).

When God wanted to destroy the Land of Sodom and Gomorrah, scripture records that God decided He could not go ahead with this punishment without discussing with Abraham because his nephew Lot, lived there. He even gave Abraham room to negotiate with Him concerning changing His mind about what He was about to do.

In spite of all this however, Abraham had his areas of weakness. The Bible did not hide this from us so that we can appreciate the fact that Abraham was just like any of us.  In spite of his absolute trust in God, Abraham had on two occasions, feared for his life and had to tell a lie to save himself. He did not just lie but encouraged his wife to do the same. The first time was when they were about to enter Egypt. 

At this time, Abraham was already seventy five years old and Sarah was sixty five years old, being ten years younger than her husband. Even at that age, Sarah was a beautiful woman and must have been focus of men's attention even while they were travelling. Now that they were about to enter Egypt, Abraham became afraid that the Egyptians might eliminate him and take his wife. He therefore told Sarah to tell the people she was his sister. This was partially true since Sarah was his half-sister but the impression this statement it created was that they were not married. 

The inevitable happened as the Pharaoh heard of the beautiful woman who just came to town in company of her brother. She was summoned to the palace while Abraham was given gifts in order to secure his approval for the pharaoh to marry his 'sister'. God however intervened before any damage could be done by visiting the Egyptians with disease which they traced to Pharaoh's intention to take Sarah as his wife. Abraham was confronted with his deceit and  he admitted that he did it out of fear for his life. (Gen 12)

The same scenario replayed itself in Gen 20. At Gerar, Abraham introduced Sarah as his sister. Abimelech the king sent for her but God prevented him from having sexual relations with her. Eventually the truth was revealed and once again, Abraham was forced to admit his deceit.

It is noteworthy that in the next chapter, God visited Sarah and fulfilled His promise to Abraham. This was a turning point for Abraham, so much so that when God told him to sacrifice his only son, Abraham never balked. He believed that God was able to give him another son. 

What are you believing God for? Does it look so big, Impossible or complex? Take a cue from the life of Abraham. God is still the same God yesterday, today and forever. If He has promised you anything, be sure that He is able to do it. 

Abraham had to go through the school of faith. We all need to go through the same school as well. That is the only way we can walk before God just like He wants us to.

'So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.' (Gal 3:9)